Improvement in railway-car brakes



F. ELDER.

Railway Car-Brakes.

Patented lan28,l87.

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AM. PHo TO-LITHOGRAPHIC 00 MY (asnonua's' man-E66) UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE JAMES I ELDER, OF BLAIRSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT m RAILWAY-CAR BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 135,212, dated January28,1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. ELDER, of Blairsville, in the county ofIndiana and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Railroad-Brakes and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, whichrepresents a longitudinal vertical section of a fourwheeled car-truckillustrative of my improvement.

My improvement, while useful with various forms of car-trucks, isparticularly designed for freight-trucks, having a double bolster andbrakes between the wheels. In such trucks the brake-rod and leverconnections have commonly been placed under .the bolster, where theywere so near the track as often to be the cause of accident. In mypresent improvementI make the fulcrums of the brake-levers one on eachouter face or side of the lower bolster; I provide a ratchet device fortaking up the slack caused by the wearing away of the brake-shoes; andsimplify the arrangement and operation of the brake by passing thebrake-chain from the end of one brake-lever over a pulley in the end ofthe other; and in the features of construction and combinationhereinafter claimed consist the nature of my invention.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and mode of operation.

The ordinary car-wheels are represented at A, the truck-frame is marked13, and the bolsters D D. The ordinary brake-bars a are arrangedbetweenthe wheels with shoes a, of any suitable construction, hung in the usualway by chains I), and held clear of the wheels when not in use bysprings b of any suitable construction. The brake-levers cl d, also ofany desired form, are,by the usual joint, connected with the brake-bars,as shown. On each side of the lower bolster D is attached a fulcrumpost,consisting either of a single post, 0, slotted lengthwise, and with aseries of pin-holes, c, for the inward and outward adjustment of thebrake-lever in taking up the slack; or, as I prefer to make this post,it consists of two parts, the one part, 0, having a toothed rack, andsliding in and out of the other U-sha-ped part c. The one part, c, isjointed to the brake-lever, and the other part, c, is connected eitherby a rigid connection or by a hinge-joint, as shown, (preferably thelatter,) to the bolster D. The part c carries a pawl,

- 8, which engages the teeth of the rack of the part c in such way thatwhile the fulcrumpost thus formed may be lengthened at pleasure fortaking up the slack by simply drawing out the part c, (which frequentlyhas to be done,) it can be shortened (which has to be done only where anew shoe is put on) only by throwing the pawl out of gear with the rack;hence, in taking up the slack caused by the wearing away of the shoes,the fulcrumpost can be readily lengthened, and at any point ofadjustment it will retain its place until set back when a new shoe isput on. The forward end of the pawl should be made the heavier, or aspring or other equivalent means be employed to keep it in gear.

It will be observed that the brake-bars move to and from the wheels inan arc, of which the clevis or chains 1) usually employed are theradius. To adapt the brake-levers to this change in the direction ofmotion from a right line, I prefer to attach the fulcrum-post to thebolster by a hinge-joint, as shown at g,- and to simplify the operationof the brake-levers,

I pass the brake-chain h from the upper or outer end ofone lever over apulley, h, ar-

ranged in the corresponding end of the other,

as shown.

The upper end of the brake-lever d may be bent over so that the pulley hshall lie horizontally instead of vertically, if so desired, the centerof the pulley being in line with the center of the lever.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The brake-levers d d pivoted to the 0pposite outer faces of thebolster, operating the brake-bars by their lower ends, and beingconnected at their upper or opposite ends by the brake-chain h,substantially as set forth.

2. An extensible fulcrum-post consisting of two parts, one sliding on orin the other, the parts being held in the proper relative position whenextended by means of a ratchet and pawl, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said JAMES I ELDER, have hereunto set myhand.

JAMES F. ELDER.

Witnesses:

W. N. PAXTON, G. H. OHRISTY.

